BBC reports British judges are worried violent crimes will grow because pubs will be allowed to apply for late licenses, to stay open past the traditional 11 p.m. closing time. But the real problem is that when it comes to their drinking culture, Brits are bunch of yobs. As made clear at BBC's online reader forum on the new law.

I have always found the licensing laws abhorrent. If people are treated like children then they will act accordingly. The sooner we grow up and join the civilised world, the better. Perhaps some period of adjustment will be needed, but in the long-term this overdue change in the law will be a good thing. Is Britain a communist state or one that treats its citizens with respect, like most civilised countries? Matthew, London

I think that people in this country drink to get drunk. There isn't that big a rush at last orders where I live, it's pretty constant throughout the night. Most people who cause trouble tend to go to clubs to continue drinking anyway, and would cause trouble whenever they leave. It's this attitude that needs to be tackled not closing times. Laurence, Luton, UK

The government ultimately created our binge drinking culture by enforcing the licensing laws during one of the World Wars. We rush home from work, eat, go to the pub and then we're left with a couple of hours to drink, so we throw the pints down as fast as we can before closing time. Compare this with the rest of Europe. Slow, responsible social drinking that goes on to 6am or even later. Rob Ford, Fleet, Hants

I live in Santiago, where there is a large British community. Even though pubs here are open till the early hours of the morning, it's mainly the Brits that are drunk at 8pm, due to large intake in a few hours after work. So here they have all the time they want, and are still in a hurry to get drunk. It's a cultural thing I guess. Edwin, Santiago, Chile

I am Mexican student in the UK and I've never seen so many drunk people in my life as here in Britain. In my country pubs and clubs are open 24 hours, and I never saw anything close to what I've experienced here. I believe the rush to finish drinking before closing time is the main factor that drives binge drinking in this country. Jesus Garza, Monterrey, Mexico

Before you change the laws, you have to change the British attitude towards alcohol. Here, it is seen as normal to go out on Friday and Saturday evenings and get drunk till you drop. In many European countries, this is seen as irresponsible and shameful, maybe the sort of thing you do once in a while, but it is definitely not the norm. You can have as many laws as you want, as long as British people won't understand that you don't need to be drunk to have a good time, the situation won't improve. Bea, London

BBC Chef, cookbook writer and real life Cornwall restaurateur and hotelier Rick Stein says the French are more reasonably paced when drinking, but have their own problem: wine chauvinism leads many to drink a lot of crappy French wine, to the exclusion of excellent wine from other countries. Their loss.

TO COMMENT: The regular comment feature is not in operation now. However, you can e-mail me your comments on this post, at the address under "Contact," above. I'll add them, here.

Jim Miller: Your description reminds me of some of the Irish-American guys I knew in Chicago in the late 1960s. I can recall them coming in to work every Monday morning with tales of how drunk they had gotten over the weekend. What struck me, after a while, is how joyless and repetitive
their tales were. It sounds, from what you say, and from what I have
read elsewhere, that many in the UK have the same pattern.

And welcome back. I enjoyed your posts on the trip to Michigan.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at August 10, 2005 05:41 PM